Sam Banks did his PhD on the effects of habitat fragmentation on populations of the agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis). When native forests are cleared, perhaps for farming or as in this case the establishment of pine plantations, the only populations of native animals remaining in such landscapes are often restricted to small remnant patches of uncleared habitat. When these populations are small and isolated they become increasingly susceptible to extinction from environmental factors including fire and drought, demographic stochasticity and genetic processes such as inbreeding. By combining a genetic analysis of breeding and dispersal in these populations with demographic and ecological data, Sam was able to thoroughly elucidate the factors that allow populations of this species to survive in a fragmented environment.
Sam is now a postdoctoral research associate in Luciano Beheragaray's group in the School of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University.
